Our "Real" Big News!

Ok, so I hope you don't mind I had a little fun yesterday with it being April Fool's Day. :-) (To those of you who emailed me, I'm very sorry, really.) The picture I posted yesterday was actually from February 2006 when I found out I was pregnant with Rebekah. Heehee

BUT......I am actually pregnant...sort of...I'm "paper pregnant"!  Yes, that's right!!! We are adopting again!!! Lord willing, it will be a little girl this time.  Yes, a little girl with Down syndrome, and yes, from that same "Eastern European" country that we know and love so much. Our hearts belong in the country that gave us our two youngest boys, that gave Sarah her passion and mission for life, and that will give us our 5th daughter and 8th child here on earth. (Of course, we would go wherever the Lord called us.)

This journey started out a little different than our last two adoption journeys.  Pat came home from his work trip to Russia and told me a week later that he felt the Lord was calling us to adopt a little girl with Down syndrome. We just didn't know who yet. It took us a few weeks to seek the Lord's discernment and we believe we have found her.  And again, different than our other journeys, we will not be sharing "who" we are adopting until we are in country, either when we get her referral or after court. We'll have to see how things go.  There are a few reasons for this confidentiality that I can't discuss there. Sorry, but that's just the way we need to do it this time. I hope you understand.

We are hoping to travel in late July/August, but only the Lord knows.  So please join us in celebrating with us (if you are truly happy for us, 'cuz not everyone is, but that is totally fine) as we seek to bring our newest daughter, Grace, home. We would appreciate prayers too of course. The attacks on our family pretty much began immediately, but we trust in the Lord.  I would love prayers for a continued smooth adoption process and paperwork. Things are going well so far.  Just let me say compiling a dossier is a breeze the 3rd time around on this end (so far). Hopefully, USCIS immigration approval will go smoothly too.

Our kids are SUPER excited too!  They were literally jumping up and down when we told them. :-)  I love that the Lord has given them a heart for the orphan and a willingness to open their hearts to another sibling yet again. Rachel (3 years old) has already informed Sarah is her favorite big sister is Grace, not her. :-) She's got it all figured out. And Anna said a very beautiful thing. Referring to the family photo at the top of the blog, she said, "Look Mom! There is a spot for Grace right in front between Rachel and Elijah." She's so right. It definitely looks like a hole that needs to be filled!